Ice Pops

These ice pops are great for summer. And they are really easy to prepare. You just need a ice pop maker, fruit of your choice, yogurt and a blender. If you would like to you can prepare the ice pops with just only fruits. But I prefer to prepare them with yogurt. 

Ingredients

4 tablespoons of  homemade yogurt 

1 mango (You can use any fruit of your choise.)

Instructions

1. Puree mango using a blender. 
2. Combine the pureed mangoes and yogurt in a cup. 
3. Pour the mixture into the ice pop makers.
4. Refrigerate the ice pop makers. 
5. After 4-5 hour they are ready. Your little one will like them as mine :)

Age: 6m & up

Cranberry Ice Cream with Yogurt

Ingredients

1 cup homemade yogurt

2 tablespoons of cranberry jam (If you would like to you can add less or more jam for your taste.)

Instructions

1. Combine the jam with the yogurt in a cup with a lid. 
2. Close the lid of the cup and refrigerate it.
3. Every hour remove from the fridge and stir. 
4. Your ice cream will be ready in 4 hour.

Age: 6m & up

Cranberry Jam

I love the jams for making homemade ice creams. One of my favorite jam is cranberry jam.
Ingredients

2 lbs  cranberries
2 lbs sugar

1/2 cup of water
1 lemon juice (If you don't like the sour taste don't add the lemon juice.)

Instructions

1. After washing the cranberries, place them in a pan with 2 lbs sugar, 1 lemon juice and 1/2 cup of water and cook over a low heat, stir occasionally. 
2. Cook until thickened.
3. I like whole cranberry jam but if you would like to you can puree the cranberries using a blender. 
4. If you like to blend it up into puree, return the blended cranberries back to the stove and cook until thickened again.
5. Your jam is ready so you can jar it up.

Spinach Pancake for Picky Ones :)

Spinach pancakes? If your little one is picky, you will love this pancake recipe. They taste like regular pancakes. So be prapered for your little one to request them almost everyday. I am cooking them plain (no salt or sugar). So my little one can eat them with cheese or honey. But if you like to you can add sugar to the mixture.

Ingredients

1 lb  spinach

1/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon of flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon of milk
1 teaspoon olive oil 
If you want you can add 1 tablespoon of sugar

Instructions

1. After washing the spinach, place them in a small pan with 1/4 cup of water and cook over a low heat, stir occasionally, until the spinach is tender. 
2. After cooking the spinach squeeze and remove its water. 
3. Puree 1/4 cup of spinach using a blender. 
4. Combine the pureed spinach with the egg and milk in a bowl. 
5. Heat a large pan and grease with olive oil.
6. Pour about 1 tablespoon of the pancake mixture onto the pan, making as many pancakes as will fit and cook for 2 minutes.
7. Flip the pancakes and cook for one minute longer and serve.

Age: 1year & up

Spinach Puree with Yogurt

Ingredients

1/2 lbs  spinach

1/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon plain yogurt 
1 teaspoon olive oil 

Instructions

1. After washing the spinach, place them in a small pan with 1/4 cup of water and cook over a low heat, stir occasionally, until the spinach is tender. 
2. Puree the spinach using a blender 
3. Combine the pureed spinach with the yogurt and olive oil in a bowl. If you would like to you can add more olive oil and yogurt.

Age: 6m & up

Carrot and Potato Puree

Ingredients

1 potato, peeled and sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup of water

1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

1. Place the carrots and potatoes in a small pan with 1 cup of water and cook over a low heat, stir occasionally, until the carrots and potatoes are soft. 
2. Puree the carrots and potatoes using a blender 
3. Combine the pureed carrots and potatoes with olive oil in a bowl 

Age: 6m & up
Our little one love that recipe. You can see the picture below :)

Mango Puree with Yogurt

This recipe is my little one's best. 

Ingredients

1/2 mango, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup of plain yogurt 

Instructions

1. Puree the mango using a blender 
2. Combine the pureed mango with the yogurt in a bowl 

Age: 6m & up

Please Note: I have always tried to mix the fruits with yogurt or vegetables, because they contain sugar and I didn't want my baby to get used to sweet taste. Today she is 15 months old and she eats everything and she is really open to new tastes.

Apple and Carrot Puree

Ingredients

1 apple, peeled and sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup of water

Instructions

1. Place the carrots in a small pan with 1 cup of water and cook over a low heat, stir occasionally, until the carrots are soft. 
2. Add apples after the carrots get soft and cook until the apple is tender. 
3. Puree the carrots and apple using a blender 

Age: 6m & up
You can see how much our little one love that recipe below :)

Apple Puree with Yogurt

I have started solid foods with that recipe.

Ingredients
1 apple, peeled and sliced

1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of plain yogurt 

Instructions

1. Place the apple in a small pan with 1/2 cup of water and cook over a low heat, stir occasionally, until the fruit is tender. 
2. Puree the apple using a blender 
3. Combine the pureed apples with the yogurt in a bowl 

Age: 6m & up

Baby's First Food

By about 4 months of age, our little one started showing an interest in our food. While we were eating, her eyes were always at our meals. By about 6 months of age, she was able to hold her head up by herself, so we decided to start solid foods after her 6 months old pediatrician appointment. I was excited because she is going to learn different tastes.

Until 5 months of age I was giving apple, grape and mango juices just only a few teaspoons everyday, so I knew that she is not allergic to these fruits. But these juices has just only sweet tastes, thats why I prefer to introduce her yogurt as a new taste. After introducing her yogurt and saw that she has not a yogurt allergy, I started giving her some mixtures.

There were some important points that I was following. One of them to start one new food at a time. This makes it easier to keep track of any food allergy or intolerance. So I choose to use one ingredient over the other and I use that ingredient at least 4 days before adding a new taste. And I have tried to introduce a new food in the late morning. By this way I had more time to watch out for any allergic reactions.

Homemade Yogurt

When our little one reached 6 months and we went to see her pediatrician, we talked about the foods that we can start with. She told us we can start with vegetables, fruits and yogurt. So when I came home I called my mom who is an expert on homemade yogurt. Because I think yogurt is a great food for babies also for adults.
The method is very basic, you don't need special yogurt cultures or any  incubating equipment. 
All you need to make homemade yogurt is milk and any kind of plain yogurt. You can use skim milk if you like, but whole or 2% fat milk will make the thickest yogurt. 
When I make yogurt I am using a gallon of 2% fat milk, for the culture we bought a probiotic plain yogurt, after starting with that yogurt we continue to make yogurt with our own yogurt. 

What You Need

Ingredients

1 gallon milk — whole or 2% are best, but skim can also be used
8 table spoons of plain yogurt 

Equipment

Large saucepan or pot with a lid
Spatula or spoon
Thermometer 
Small bowl
Table spoon
2 pyrex 11 cup glass dishes with plastic lids
Towel or a thick cloth

Instructions

1. Heat the milk. Pour the milk into the pot and set over medium to medium-high heat. Stir the milk gently as it heats to make sure the bottom doesn't scorch and the milk doesn't boil over. After half hour turn off the oven.
2. Cool the milk. Stir occasionally to prevent a skin from forming while cooling. Let the milk cool until it is just warm to 113°F. If the milk more cooler than 113°F, you can warm it up a little bit. It is said that optimum heat of the milk is between 107.6°F and 113°F for fermantation. But I am using 113°F (a little bit higher or lower will be ok) because while we are adding yogurt for fermantation the milk is cooling a little bit. And one more useful detail when you pour your milk into your glass dish just after cooling process your milk's heat can decrease so you can cool your milk directly into your glass dishes. 
3. Thin the yogurt with milk. Put your 4 table spoons of yogurt (for half gallon milk) into a small bowl and add some milk from the one that you warm. Add milk until the mixture is looking liquid and whisk it until smooth and the yogurt is dissolved in the milk. Repeat this process for the second glass dish. 
4. Whisk the thinned yogurt into the milk. Pour the thinned yogurt into the warm milk while whisking gently. This inoculates the milk with the yogurt culture.
5. Wrap glass dishes into a bath towel or a thick cloth. Put your lids onto your glass dishes but don't close them. There must be a little bit openning for fermantation. Wrap these glass dishes into a bath towel seperately. 
6. Wait for the yogurt to set. Let the yogurt set for at least 4 hours or may be 12 hours. The exact time will depend on the cultures used, the temperature of the yogurt, your home tempereature and your yogurt preferences. The longer yogurt sits, the thicker it becomes. But after one point will get sour so you need to check occasionally. You can check your yogurt by lifting one edge of the dish a little bit. Avoid jostling or stirring the yogurt until it has fully set. If this is your first time making yogurt, start checking it after 4 hours and stop when it reaches a  consistency you like. 
7. Cool the yogurt. Once the yogurt has set close the lids and let them cool in the refrigerator for 24 hours. And after that you can enjoy to eat your homemade yogurt.